That Parker Kid (Episode 1: Along Came a Spider)
by avigailrose
Summary: There were many things fourteen year old Peter Parker didn't expect to happen in his life: Working at the Daily Bugle, being a superhero, meeting his long-lost father, fighting alongside Captain America. On that day, all of that happened. Rated 'M' for paranoia's sake. Also, I own nothing. (Credit for playlist on my Tumblr. Nervous that it'll be taken down if i make it too public.)
1. Chapter 1

When fourteen year old Peter Parker entered the Daily Bugle that afternoon, there were many things that he didn't expect to happen that day.

It was a Friday afternoon, a week after the Skrull invasion. Peter was looking forward to the weekend, since he usually had weekends off. He was looking forward to a weekend of hanging out with his friends, and hoping that his aunt would be able to do that movie night that she promised (the hospital gets busy after attacks like that).

So, Peter had to stay patient, and focus on editing a picture for an article that Betty was writing.

It was a pretty normal day in New York City, despite all that had happened, so when the elevator door opened, Peter didn't pay much attention to it. He was too busy brightening certain areas of the photo.

It was five minutes later, when a sharp shout interrupted Peter's focus.

He sighed in annoyance.

Someone pissed off Jameson again (which wasn't exactly a hard feat to accomplish, to be perfectly honest).

'_Guess now is a good time to take a break.' _The teenager thought.

"Can you believe it?" Benny, an older reporter, magically appeared next to Peter's desk. "Tony Stark, in our office!"

Peter immediately jumped. His eyes widened, and he glanced at the windows that peered into Jameson's office (or, more likely, peered into the workroom). Sure enough, Peter could clearly make out a tall man who clearly wasn't the Jolly One.

"How do you know that that's Tony Stark?" He replied nervously.

Benny elbowed him. "Didn't ya see him walk in, kid? Your desk is the closest to the elevator."

Peter shook his head.

The reporter chuckled. "Well, thought you'd get a kick out of that. I know how much you like them superheroes, Parker."

The teenager's hands shook as he examined the man in Jameson's office. Could ...could it really be ...?

"Right." Peter replied. "Th-thanks, Benny."

The older reporter chuckled again, and walked away. Peter, in the meantime, continued to stare at Tony Stark.

He wondered if he could get the man's attention somehow…Just…like…show him that Peter existed. A way to get noticed without anyone else realizing their similarities….

Unless all the similarities Peter had found from magazines made Tony Stark look more different than how he really looked, and his aunt and uncle were mistaken about-

"PARKER!" Jameson suddenly shouted.

Or his Parker luck would finally give him a break for once!

Peter basically jumped off his chair. His hands were shaking, so he tightened them into fists.

He began to think about his appearance, like maybe he should have done something with his hair, instead of leaving it as the mess it usually was? Oh, was his uniform ironed? Shit, he didn't tuck in his shirt. Also, he forgot his uniform jacket.

Oh god, he looked like a mess! How could he meet _Tony Stark _looking like a complete wreck?!

Too late, he was in Jameson's office.

"Uh...hello?"

"Parker, here, is one of our best photographers." Jameson complimented(?). "For a fetus."

Tony Stark turned to glance at 'Parker the Fetus'. Peter watched as his eyes darted straight ahead. He frowned, then lowered his gaze.

Peter got the absolute 'pleasure' of watching his father's whole face pale. His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, and his mouth dropped open.

Okay...so...maybe meeting your long-lost kid after a huge invasion, and while your best friend and rumored husband is on the hot seat was probably a bit too much, even for genius billionaires.

Peter was pretty sure that he just broke Iron-Man.

"Take Parker and Brant to Captain America." Jameson opened his laptop. "They'll interview him, and the Bugle will print out the truth! Whether he's a traitor or a collaborator."

Tony Stark stiffened. He turned back to Peter, his eyes narrowing.

The teenager nervously glanced from Tony Stark, to Betty, back to the billionaire.

"I mostly work on the Bugles' website." Peter forced out, blinking dumbly.

Tony Stark sighed in annoyance. "Wha-whatever, kid."

He walked past him. Peter watched him.

Okay…That definitely didn't go the way Peter imagined it would.

They took a Bugle owned van to a military base.

Peter sat in the back with Betty, while Mr. Stark sat by himself in the second row. Every once in awhile, the older man would look up from his phone, and frown at the kid. Peter, in turn, would nervously wave at him. The man would narrow his eyes, and return his attention back to his phone.

This happened, at least, four times, before Betty got annoyed, and asked Peter how school was doing.

The teenager blinked at her for a moment, before answering.

"Well…it's ending in a month or two, so pretty good." He replied.

"Got any summer plans?" Betty asked.

"Uh…taking pictures for the Bugle and...I don't know, stare at the ceiling all day? My aunt's trying to convince me to go to some camp at the community center….."

Peter and Betty chatted for awhile, before pulling up to a gate. The teenager's eyes widened at the guns that the soldiers were carrying. He immediately stiffened.

The van stalled for a minute. Some SHIELD agents tapped on the driver seat window, and immediately got into an argument over whether or not they were allowed to be there. Tony Stark, who was clearly losing patience, opened a window, and stared at the SHIELD agents. The agents immediately straightened up, and called to open the gate.

Betty tapped his shoulder suddenly. Peter glanced at her. She pointed to his window.

Protesters. There were a lot of protesters.

Peter frowned, and squinted at them. "Wait ...are those tomatoes?"

"Looks like it." Betty replied.

"I thought that they only did that in the movies….."

When Peter glanced back at the older woman, she was frowning.

"Keep your distance, Pete." Betty instructed. "Crowds like this can be pretty rowdy."

"It's okay." Peter tapped on the window as they pulled over. "There's a gate, so they won't be able to get in."

But that didn't assure Betty.

"If they start throwing things," She replied. "Back away. If they get riled enough, they might start throwing rocks."

"Maybe it was a bad idea to bring him, than."

Tony Stark shocked the two of them by actually speaking.

Peter blinked at him. "I...No, I'll be fine. 'Back away if they start throwing stuff', those are easy enough instruction."

The CEO frowned at him, then shook his head, and continued on. Peter and Betty followed him.

"I'm going to talk to Cap." Iron-Man said. "You two ...I don't know. Talk to Hawkeye or something."

He pointed to the archer, who was currently glaring at the crowd.

Peter didn't like Hawkeye. From a fanboy's perspective, he wasn't his favorite Avenger. He seemed very angry, and took himself too seriously for a man who wore such a ridiculous outfit. From the few times Peter had bumped into the guy during patrol, he wasn't exactly friendly towards him.

But since Peter couldn't exactly use either of these options for arguments against talking to Hawkeye, oh, and he was on duty, Mr. Stark and the Bugle workers went their separate ways.

"Excuse me, Mr. Barton," Betty held out her hand as Peter began to set up his camera. "Betty Brant, Daily Bugle. Would it be alright if I asked you some questions?"

Peter couldn't get a good look at Hawkeye's expression, but he bet ten dollars to himself that he was scowling.

"The Daily Bugle?" His voice was full of disgust. "You mean the paper that has been smearing on Cap all week?"

"Ah ...yeah, that's the one." Betty replied.

The archer huffed. "Like hell, I'm going to answer any of your questions."

Betty huffed. "Mr. Stark said that you would."

"Hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but I don't do things just because Iron-Man, of all people, tell me to." Hawkeye replied. "Who's the kid?"

Peter stiffened as he took another shot of the crowd.

God, he was hoping that he wouldn't be noticed….

"That's my photographer." Betty replied smoothly. "Anyways-"

"_That's _the Bugles' photographer?" Hawkeye replied in disbelief. "He's four years old!"

Peter immediately glanced at him. "I'm fifteen!"

Which was a little white lie, since he wouldn't be fifteen until August, but hey, that was a few months away, so did it really matter?

The archer glared at him. Then his eyes widened in shock. He glanced at where Mr. Stark and Captain Rogers were talking, than back at Peter.

"Respect your elders, punk." Was Hawkeye's cool response.

Betty glanced around. "What's going on here?"

The archer sighed, as though answering Betty's question was the most difficult thing that could possibly happen to him.

"SHIELD set up shop here when the helicarrier went down. We're just helping transport a bunch of random supervillains to the Baxter Building."

Peter turned. "Why would you take them there?"

Hawkeye narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "Classified."

The teenager's eyes darted to some SHIELD agents who were escorting said supervillains into a prison-truck-thing. He glanced at Betty, feeling a little worried.

"Is this safe?" He asked.

"No, it's not," Hawkeye replied. "And there's no way that you're coming with us, kid. So take off."

Betty lowered her recorder, glaring at Hawkeye. "No pictures, no deal. He's coming."

"Alright, Ms. Brant." Mr. Stark and Captain America suddenly walked over (OHMYGODITSCAPTAINAMERICA!). "Everything's cool, you can talk to Cap. But you'll have to do it on-"

"TRAITOR!"

Suddenly, there was a tugging on his arm, and the next thing you know, Betty was shielding Peter as the crowd got riled up.

"GET LOST, YOU LOSEY BUM!"

Other protestors shouted their agreements.

Captain America stared at the crowd blankly. He glanced at everyone else, his expression even.

"We have a schedule to meet, people." He turned around.

Betty glanced at Peter. "Are you okay?"

The teenager pulled away. "You're the one who just became a human shield. Are _you _okay?"

The reporter sighed, glancing back at the crowd. She had an expression of doubt, like she was thinking about how much of a bad idea it was to send Peter on this assignment with her.

Peter decided to go on distraction mode.

"Man…the weather's great today! Did you see that…polluted puff of smoke that kinda looked like Ronald Reagan earlier?"

Betty wasn't buying it. And Peter didn't blame her, cause talking about the weather? Seriously?

Hawkeye rolled his eyes. "Whatever, kid. Let's just get this over with."

He walked off. Peter glanced at Mr. Stark one more time, before heading over to one of the….tank ...things. He and Betty boarded. The teenager glanced out the window, noting how the billionaire was staring at the car.

Peter decided that it might be time to examine the pictures he took.

"Seat Belts." The SHIELD agent at front said. "Everyone ready to go?"

No one responded. The agent started to drive anyways.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: How...how do I already have eleven reads on this story?

The drive was quiet at first.

Everyone was sitting rather awkwardly, probably waiting for the other party to speak first. Peter glanced at Betty, who was studying Cap.

He had the feeling that she wanted him to make the first move….

"I understand that you had some questions for me, miss?" Cap finally broke the silence.

"Some quest-Captain, what happened?!" She leaned forward. "Everyone on the planet thinks that you told us to surrender to an invading force! How do you respond to that?"

"I take full responsibility." Captain America replied.

Peter and Betty exchanged startled looks.

"Would you...care to elaborate on that?" Betty asked.

"Not really."

Peter unbuckled his seatbelt, and leaned towards Cap. "Please?"

The good Captain glanced at him. He appeared to be studying him. He frowned as he examined Peter's eyes, something that Peter knew to be the exact same shade as Mr. Stark's.

Suddenly, Peter's senses went off.

His eyes widened. But before he could shout a warning, there was an explosion. The car went out of control. A pole was quickly approaching.

The teenager felt himself becoming weightless. Cap grabbed him before he could be thrown into the windshield. Instead, the three males at front ended up landing face-first on the dashboard.

"Is everyone okay?" Betty called out. "What was that?"

The SHIELD agent straightened. "Cap! It's the Serpine Society!"

Peter's eyes widened at the sight of...a chubby snake dude?

Cap quickly got out. Peter insisted that Betty went before him.

"What's going on?!" She exclaimed.

"The Serpine Society is trying to free Viper and Cobra." The superhero turned to the SHIELD agent. "Wu, get them out of here!"

Than the superhero rushed off to battle.

Peter and Betty exchanged nervous looks.

Suddenly, his senses started acting up, and a bright light flashed.

"UGH!" Peter yelped as the truck was forced to the side. As the world turned to smoke, Peter quickly jumped off the truck. He rushed to the nearest alley.

He jumped from wall to wall, finally landing on the nearest roof. He checked to make sure that no one was watching as he took off his uniform, revealing a bright blue and red suit.

Peter nervously checked on how everyone was doing down there (which was not great- Cap was currently having his ass handed to him) before slipping on his gloves and mask. He webbed his stuff to a corner for safe keeping, then jumped off the roof.

And when he landed, he took two of the creepy snakes down with him.

One of them rattled a tail, and shot a bolt of electricity to a store front (oops!), which caused explosions (mega oops!).

"Cap!" Spider-Man landed next to the superhero. "I'm here to save-"

His spider-senses went off.

He jumped, and dodged a pair of mechanical arms.

He studied the two snake people who were clearly aiming to attack them.

"What were you saying, son?" Cap asked.

Spidey straightened up. He huffed. "I'm here…Ya know. To save you."

His spider-sense interrupted him.

"Uh ...Cap?" Spider-Man said. "We're in trouble."

The ground began to shake.

Under the mask, Peter's eyes widened.

_The street was collapsing!_

The teenager cried out as he was suddenly free falling. The dust was too dark for him to see anything.

Rocks and dirt seemed to be coming from everywhere. Fear crept into his chest as he realized that he was being buried alive.

Peter held his breath, and did everything he could to not cry out.

After around a minute, Peter found out that he was not, in fact, dead. There was even a small opening above him.

Oh thank god, he wasn't dead!

"Spider-Man?" A strong voice exclaimed.

Cap!

"Over here!" He called out.

Spider-Man punched the hole, widening enough for it to fit his entire arm, and he felt a hand grip his. Suddenly, he was being tugged out from the rubble.

It hurt like hell, and as soon as Cap let go of his hand, Peter sat on the ground, messaging his poor arm.

"Are you alright?" Captain America asked.

Spider-Man stood up. "You mean besides the pain? Yeah, I'm good."

Spidey watched as Cap began to survey the area. The urge to fanboy suddenly overshadowed any pain or left over tears that managed to escape his eyes.

"Hey, so we've never met before." He scratched the back of his neck with one hand, then held out the other. "I'm-"

"I know who you are, Spider-Man," The man gripped his shoulder. "Come on. We've got work to do."

He jogged off.

The webhead watched him. "Right."

Than Peter frowned at himself.

'_Ugh. 'We've never really met before?' Seriously?'_

"Spider-Man!" Captain suddenly called out from the top of one of those ...tank things. "Help Agent Courdermain! I'll go check on the prisoners!"

The man proceeded to elegantly jump off the truck thing with a grace that a ballerina would kill for, and rushed off.

'_Okay, I can do that.' _Peter thought as he jumped on the tank. '_I've helped people in car accidents before.'_

He flung the door open, and struck a Captain America-like pose.

"I'm Spider-Man!" He exclaimed in a deeper tone.

The blond agent frowned. "What's wrong with your voice?"

Peter's smile vanished. He groaned.

'_Curse my pre-pubescent voice!'_

"Okay," The web-head sighed. "Hold on a sec, I'll help you out."

He climbed inside. "Anything broken?"

The agent grunted. "My arm hurts. Everything else is fine."

"Right. I'll mind the arm."

Spider-Man carefully wrapped an arm around the man's waist, and slowly unbuckled the seatbelt.

"Has anyone told you that you're shorter in real life?" The agent commented.

Spidey scoffed. "Only ten times a day, but thanks."

Slowly, but surely, Spider-Man carefully got the agent out of the tank.

"Okay, it's a bit of a high jump." Spidey glanced at the agent. "How comfortable are you with your masculinity?"

The agent raised an eyebrow. "Is that supposed to be a joke?"

"It's too high for you to jump." Spider-Man replied. "I need to carry you down, bridal-style."

Agent Courdermain looked like he was genuinely praying for patience. Finally, he nodded.

The webhead was in mid-jump when a woman suddenly cried for help.

Spider-Man carefully put the agent down, and together, they ran to a single subway car. It was being held by a pile of rocks, and was filled with people. Normal citizens.

Well, that'll make things even more complicated.

"Does anyone have a phone?" Spidey called out. "I left mine in my other pants."

Captain America turned to Agent Courdermain. "Can you walk?"

The man grunted. "I'll live."

Cap nodded to Spider-Man. "We're going to get these people off that car."

The webhead nodded. "Right!"

It was a stressful procedure, to say the least.

Spidey and Cap had to tread carefully, since the subway car wasn't exactly in a steady location. It was Spider-Man's idea to use his webbing to carefully lower people down, while Cap caught them.

The people in the car weren't exactly pleased with this plan, but they all seemed to realize that this was better than the alternative. Well...all except an elderly man, who didn't seem too thrilled with breathing the same air as Spider-Man, let alone letting him touch him.

"I have counted all of my money in my wallet." The old man informed him, once it was his turn. "So, don't even think about stealing anything!"

"Good to know, sir." Spider-Man replied. "Will you need some assistance getting down?"

"Some assistance? Some assistance?" The man repeated. "I'm not some wheelchair bond sissy! I will get down the same way everyone else did!"

Spoiler alert: He ended up needing extra help getting down.

After that, Cap decided to take account of everything. He had Peter check the tanks for supplies, and to see if the radios were working. Captain went to see who was there, what they can do, if anyone was injured, and if anyone lost somebody else.

Also, to see what the body count was.

It wasn't something that was spoken out loud, but they both knew that that was part of their current reality. And Captain could probably tell that Spider-Man was on the younger side, because he made sure to send him out to look for more supplies when he wasn't finished counting.

Once that was all done, everyone sat down for a breather. Cap went to talk to that agent, and one girl started to ask Spider-Man questions.

Peter did his best to reassure her, but he wasn't too sure if it was good enough. After all, they were in a pretty miserable situation.

And it really didn't help that everything around them smelled terrible.

Another woman sounded super distressed, so Spider-Man turned to help her.

"Hey," He said to a red-haired woman. "Are you okay-"

"Get away from me!" She shrieked.

Peter felt immediately upset by this, but he did his best not to keep that in his voice.

"I-I'm sorry! I'm just trying to help-"

That lovely old man from earlier pushed him. "Just stay away from her, freak! You're probably the reason we're even in this mess!"

"Everyone, calm down!" Captain America approached them. He touched the man's shoulder. "We're going to get you out of here-"

"You?!" The man smacked his hand away. "You were going to sell us out! I saw you on tv! You're no hero! You're a traitor!"

"Hey!" Peter exclaimed angrily. He poked that man's chest. "_He's _trying to help you! We both are! And that wasn't Cap, it was an _alien-"_

"Spider-Man," Cap interrupted. "It's okay!"

"No! It's-"

"Let it go." He turned away from the smaller hero.

"Everyone listen!" Captain America exclaimed. "We're in one of the old floodgates under the tunnels of the subway system. It's not looking too stable, so we need to get out of here before there's another cave-in. There should be access ladders every mile or so. I suggest we get walking."

Spider-Man sighed, praying that his voice didn't sound as choked up as he felt. "I have a light."

He pressed a button on his belt. The red Spidey symbol appeared on the water, making Peter feel like Batman (which was kind of the point, to be perfectly honest).

"Spider-Man will take point." Captain America instructed. "Everyone who wants to wait for rescue is welcomed to stay here. But I don't recommend it."

Okay, that. That made Peter smile.

He hopped forward, landing carefully on the ceiling, and fully aware of the group behind him complaining.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: My fellow Spider-Man fans, **

**We have suffered a lost of epic proportions. A lost so painful, that I have cried for the past twelve hours. How could I have possibly known that Marvel would lose the rights to Spider-Man, and Spider-Man will no longer be apart of the MCU before the entire world found out?**

**I'm magic, I guess. **

**Okay, real talk, it sucks that Marvel and Sony has come to this, cause this means no more Uncle Happy, and Spider-Man loses his spot in the Avengers. Also, we all know what happens when Sony gets their hands on live action Spider-Man content (*insert GIF of emo Peter*). **

**Anyways, to help with the pain, I decided to either update early, or update twice this week. I'm starting school again next week, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to handle the amount of editing I'll need to do for the second episode in order for this work (Episode 2 is about 17 chapters long, and I have barely edited any of it, yet), or I'll just post a One Shot this Friday instead. **

**(Also, at least Spidey is still an honorary Avenger in EMH. Least we still have that).**

**Okay, Av, shut up, and just move on with the chapter. **

The next half an hour was spent in semi-silence. There was the occasional whisper (all of which Peter had heard, thanks to his super hearing). Everytime the group turned a corner, Spider-Man went ahead to see if it was safe to walk in that area.

For the most part, they were okay, until they reached one specific area. The webhead's spidey senses went off.

Spider-Man narrowed his eyes, than blocked the crowd.

He straightened up. He studied the elderly man, before tugging out the Spidey signal, and handing it to him.

"Here, take this. I'm going to go talk to Cap."

"What?! You're just gonna leave us alone?" The man exclaimed.

Oh, the irony.

"There is nothing here to worry about." Spidey reassured. "Well...Except for snake monsters. I'm sure you'll be fine."

And he hopped away before the man could get a response in.

Spider-Man jumped past the crowd, landing on the ceiling above Cap. He lowered himself. "Okay, we've got trouble. And I don't think it's the tunnel collapsing. I've got a...uh...kind of sense about these things. It's all around us."

Spidey glanced at the Serpentine Society. "It could be our cranky friends back there."

"Thanks for the heads up." Captain America replied, before removing his….shield? That didn't look like his shield.

Peter decided that now wasn't the time to ask about that. Instead, he asked about something else that was bothering him.

"Cap, why aren't you defending yourself?" He landed next to him. "The news is all over you! Everyone thinks that it was you!"

"They say worse things about you." Cap replied.

"Yeah." Peter responded. "And it sucks! How can you be so-so not upset about this?"

"I know who you are."

Spider-Man immediately stiffened.

"I've talked to the police, the firemen. The people that you'd helped-"

"Oh, that." Spider-Man relaxed. Then, he became both curious and nervous. "What did they say?"

Cap glanced at him. Than back ahead. "They told me their stories about how you saved their lives. How you never asked for recognition, or reward. Or even thanks. It doesn't matter what the newspapers say, or the politicians, or the whole world. They don't define who you are. You do. And not by your words, but by your actions."

"The truth will come out. But until then, I'm going to keep fighting. Just like you do."

The two of them kind of stared at each other for a moment. Then, Peter let out a sniffle.

"Are...are you alright, son?"

"Oh, yeah." The teenager replied. "Just…oh god. That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me since I became Spider-Man. That was really nice."

Captain America smiled sympathetically. They continued forward.

Spider-Man paused.

His eyes widened, and he quickly tackled his hero down to the ground.

Behind them, a loud explosion shook the tunnel.

They glanced behind them, and much to everyone's horror, the big snake guy with the electric tail was back.

And….that lady with the metal arms, who kind of looked like an opera singer. The agent guy held out a gun, but opera lady snatched it away.

One snake dude with metal arms approached them ominously, dragging a blade attachment against the wall.

Two more snake monsters popped out, informing the teenager that he and Cap were, in fact, very outnumbered and were probably going to become very dead soon.

Next to him, Cap took a step back, and glanced at the green haired snake lady.

"It's over, Captain," She smirked. "Either you will release me right now, or everyone here will suffer the consequences."

Everyone immediately formed into a circle, surrounding the prisoners. And it was kind of at that moment where Peter wondered what the heck he was doing there.

There he was, a fourteen year old kid, barely into high school, a child, facing off against a bunch of snake monsters in a red and blue onesie. Facing robbers and muggers was one thing, but this….

Well ...this was both very scary and completely awesome at the same time! Until Peter remembered that he could very well die, and leave his aunt all by herself. That made the experience a little less awesome.

Spider-Man gazed from one snake monster to another, raising his fists.

"Decide, Captain." The snake lady continued. "My freedom, or these people's lives."

Old man asshole turned to Cap. "Are you crazy?! Just let her go!"

Cap glanced around. Peter felt a little nervous when he noticed how bewildered his hero looked. He turned to Green Haired Lady.

Peter began to sweat. "Cap?"

Cap pushed her. "Now!"

Spider-Man had absolutely no idea what 'now' was supposed to mean exactly, so he just started shooting webbing at the snake monsters.

The giant snake with the electric rattle approached Cap, so the super soldier threw his 'not shield' at him. It immediately broke off the snake's tail. Which also caused electricity to spurt out everywhere.

"Destroy them all!" Green haired lady shouted.

The opera lady turned to Spider-Man, and started throwing punches at him. The webhead managed to dodge all of them, crying out, "Miss! And miss! And miss again!" to relieve stress.

He landed on a wall, and a thought occurred to him.

"Wait a minute!" He exclaimed. "How many arms do you have-"

His spidey senses flared.

Per usual, he got hurt for the sake of a joke.

Spider-Man straightened up, groaning. A large shadow towered over him. It was the large snake dude with the electric tail.

The webhead got into a fighting position, and they immediately began to throw punches. From a distance, Peter could hear Cap tell the SHIELD agent to bring the civilians to safety.

His senses went off again, and once again, he got hit with a punch that he couldn't dodge. He landed on a wall, his back screaming with pain. He landed on the ground whimpering pathetically.

The snake advanced, but before he could hurt Spider-Man any further, Cap intervene. Unfortunately, another snake wanted to have a turn with beating the webhead into a pulp, so he stood up, and began fighting a snake with a mohawk.

It swiped at him, and that was when Spidy noticed that instead of normal metal fingernails on it's metal hands, it had long talons.

"Okay, the thing with the whole snake motif? It doesn't work when you have claws!" The webhead jumped back.

"Cap!" The agent's voice echoed throughout the tunnel.

The citizens!

Spidey glanced at Cap, who was currently dealing with Opera lady. He quickly intervened, and gave the lady an open-air-surprise-kick.

Finally, someone else ended up landing on a wall while Spider-Man landed safely on the ceiling. He straightened, then noticed the giant dent in Cap's shield.

Was now the time to bring that up?

"Hey, I thought your shield was supposed to be undentable." Spider-Man twirled his finger. "And...round."

Cap glanced at it. "It's temporary. Get to Courdermain, help him! I'll hold them off!"

"I'm on it!" Spider-Man replied.

As quickly as he could with a sore back, Spider-Man jumped and hopped towards the citizens. He paused when it looked like the SHIELD agent was doing pretty well for himself, but then he got thrown to the side like a ragdoll.

Okay, yeah, Spider-Man needed to intervene. Now!

"Heads up, smiley!" The webhead called out, as he swung towards the snake guy.

They both landed on the ground, but Peter managed to get up first. He straightened himself out and shot webbing at Snake Guy before he even had the chance to recover.

The webbing attacked itself to the guy's chest, so Spider-Man began to swing him around and around. Once again, it wasn't Spidey who ended up landing in a wall, which he was very grateful for.

But the snake guy recovered from being thrown through cement a lot quicker than Spidey could, and he was immediately up and at it, trying to stab the teenager.

Spider-Man dodged. Finally having enough of sharp objects getting thrown his way, the webhead jumped from the ceiling, and using all his velocity, he grabbed the dude's arm.

Now, Peter's original plan was to simply try to disarm the blade from the guy's arm. What ended up happening was that Peter literally disarmed the snake guy's arm.

He didn't even have time to realize what he did before the snake guy continued to attack him.

Spider-Man dodged, and grabbed the second arm. This, too, broke off easily (well ...as easily as it can get when you have super strength...which was very easily).

The super-powered teen looked from the arm in his hands, to the snake guy, who stared at the empty shoulder socket in shock and horror.

It kind of made Peter feel a little bad for the guy.

"Yikes...Sorry about that." Spider-Man straightened up and glanced at the arm.

Snake dude didn't seem too happy with his apology, because he immediately lunged at the vigilante.

The webhead grunted as he landed on the wall again, pushing the snake's face back, and trying his best to not let karma take his own arm. "Hey! Stop biting! I said that I was sorry!"

There was a loud sound from the background. Cap screamed, "No!". The citizens were screaming in terror.

Spider-Man glanced behind the ever-growing snake mouth (which smelled horrible, by the way) to see the ceiling crumbling down towards the citizens.

Peter's eyes widened in horror. All sense of self preservation and withholding his true strength threw itself out the window, as he similarly threw the snake guy to the side.

The teenager desperately webbed one corner of the ceiling, hoping that that would help. When it didn't, Peter grabbed onto a piece of ceiling that seemed to be holding everything up, and used all his strength to keep it up.

Now, let's be clear about something: Peter was strong for someone his age. When he first got his powers, he managed to pick up an entire boxcar with one hand, and that power grew as Peter did. At his estimate, Peter could probably lift up a couple of tons before breaking into a sweat.

Currently, Peter was holding a ceiling, comprised of cement and steel.

To put it shortly, that was a lot more than 'a couple of tons'.

His muscles screamed. Sweat poured down his body in the bucket loads. The only thing he could even think was, 'AHHHHHHRRRRRUUUUUUBLURGHABLUGA!'.

Within five seconds of holding up the ceiling, the only normal thought Peter could comprehend was, 'I CAN'T DO THIS I CAN'T DO THIS I CAN'T DO THIS I CAN'T DO THIS!'

"R-run! Pl-please!" Tears began to stream down the teenager's face.

"Run where?" The older man demanded.

Peter's mental response:

'_ARE YOU F***ING SERIOUS DO YOU NOT SEE WHAT I'M CURRENT DOING I'M FOURTEEN AND I'M SAVING YOUR LIFE CAN YOU NOT FIGURE SOMETHING OUT FOR YOURSELF AHHHH THIS HURTS SO MUCH!'_

Instead, Spider-Man grunted. His spider-sense went off even more than it already had. "Cap!"

"The tunnel has collapsed on both ends-"

"No! Be-behind you!"

It was the Serpine Society.

Green haired lady chuckled as he watched Spider-Man struggle. "You seem to be in a bit of trouble, Captain."

Peter proceeded to curse her out, something he felt that he had the right to indulge in while he was in his current circumstances. "This whole place is going to collapse, you asshole!"

"Language." The woman tutted. "Besides, snakes are good at getting out of tight spots. Start with the civilians."

"You want these people?" Captain America declared. "Than you'll have to go through me!"

The snake lady paused before attacking.

Spider-Man watched in helpless horror as each snake took a turn attacking Cap, when the citizens, of all people, started to throw rocks at the snakes.

The old man even tossed Cap his shield back. Cap caught it, and together, they fought back.

Unfortunately, Peter couldn't focus on this touching scene anymore because _HOLY SHIT, THIS CEILING WAS SO HEAVY, MAKE THE PAIN STOP, AGGGGHHHHHHHH!_

The ceiling made another groan, pushing more weight on the teenager's shoulders.

From the distance, Peter could hear the Serpine Society disengaging, but because of his current situation, he didn't really care anymore.

He cried out for Cap, because he was a superhero, and he'd know what to do, and he'd help Peter.

But all Captain America said to Peter was, "Hold on!"

Peter whimpered and sobbed. "I-I can't! I can't! It's too heavy! It's heavy! It's gonna fall! I can't do this anymore! I can't!"

"Yes, you can!" Captain America insisted. "You haven't quit before, you will not quit now! Do you hear me? You have to hold!"

The child whimpered again as his foot began to lose it's hold. He found a different place. Nausea filled his stomach, as he continued to hold on, cause oh god, Cap sounded so much like Uncle Ben.

Suddenly, the weight resided. Peter quickly got off from the ceiling and landed wobbly next to Cap. Cap quickly grabbed his shoulder, and held him steady as he sobbed and blubbered like a baby.

Above them, the ceiling broke away, revealing Thor, Ms. Marvel, Iron-Man, and Hawkeye.

"Hey, is everyone okay?" Iron-Man landed in front of the group and looked around. "Would have been here sooner, but the cave in destabilized some of the surrounding buildings."

Peter sniffled and wobbled. "Yu-yup! Just-just gonna die for a quick second, I'll get right back to youuuuu-"

He collapsed to the ground. At this point, he didn't care if the floor was covered in rubble, he just wanted to die a swift death.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Yeah, I decided to just update the chapter. **

**Episode 2 will be in a different 'book'. A sneak peek shall be down below. **

**Hope you guys enjoy!**

When Peter woke up, all he could smell was sweat and concrete dust. He realized that it was hard to breathe, but after a second, he realized it was because he was still wearing his mask.

He tried to raise his arm to take it off, but then, he realized two things:

His entire body hurt so much that he didn't want to move.

He wasn't alone.

He moved his aching head just enough to recognize a familiar, scowling figure gazing downwards.

Peter and Hawkeye were on a roof, the teenager realized. There were sirens coming from different directions, and memories of what happened before Peter passed out flickered through his pain hazed mind.

He sat up slowly, wincing as every inch of him screamed in absolute pain.

"Morning, sleeping beauty." Hawkeye kept his eyes to the street below. "Have a nice nap?"

Peter decided to ignore the sass. "How long have I been out?"

"Forty minutes." Hawkeye replied stiffly.

"Oh." Honestly, that wasn't bad compared to all the other times Peter had passed out. "Is everyone okay?"

The archer eyed him. "Yeah. There's an old guy and a lady freaking out. I think they're worried about you."

Peter blinked. "Huh. That's new."

He stood up slowly, but immediately sank back down when he felt nauseated. It occurred to him that after all that he had been through, he should probably eat something. Afterall, super powered teenagers needed their calories, especially when they hold up heavy ceilings until they pass out.

The sound of repulsors gave Peter pause.

Iron-Man, holding Captain America by his armpits (a pretty funny scene that Peter would like to draw, if he wasn't super worried about his secret identity), landed neatly on the roof.

Peter heart raced at the sight of his father, and he gulped nervously.

"You alright, son?" Cap asked.

The teenager nodded slowly, before carefully standing up. He took a second when the nausea became pretty bad, but continued once it subsided. "Yeah, fine, great, perfect. Did we get the bad guys?"

Captain America frowned at him. "No, they got away."

Peter's shoulders drooped. "Oh."

Cap seemed to have read him, because he clasped Peter's shoulder (but immediately removed it when Peter winced). "You did good, son. We're alive, thanks to you."

The teenager nodded (he took praise very poorly), than walked in Hawkeye's direction. He looked down below, wincing at the gaping hole that now lived in the middle of the street.

"Ah, destroying public property. The day-in-life of a superhero." Hawkeye said.

Iron-Man sighed. "Yeah, until you're the one who has to pay for all the damages. Oh, wait a second...No, that's just me doing all the heavy lifting."

Hawkeye shrugged. "If you don't want to pay for all the damages we cause, than don't be a multi-billionaire, Tony."

Peter laughed, which made his chest hurt. Than he felt bad, because he didn't realize that Iron-Man was the one who used his own personal funds to pay for the city's damaged property.

"So-sorry." He stared at his feet.

Iron-Man sighed. "Whatever kid, just watch where you land. And thank you. You did good today."

"Speaking of which." Hawkeye glanced at Peter. "What's a kid doing, running around playing superhero?"

Peter stiffened. "I….I'm not that much of a kid!"

"Oh yeah?" Hawkeye raised an eyebrow. "How old are you?"

Peter cleared his throat. "None of business."

"As an Avenger, I say that it is my business." The archer glared at him. "Cough it up, kid. How old are you?"

Oh god, Peter was never going to be able to lie to a former SHIELD agent! He was going to see right through him!

The teenager decided to try anyways. "Seventeen."

The two stared at each other for a moment. Hawkeye's eyes blanked out, and he glanced back at the street. Peter didn't know what that meant.

"Still pretty young to be running around like that, kid." Iron-Man said. "Do your parents know that you're doing this?"

"Er...it's complicated."

The sound of the crowd below suddenly reminded Peter of something: Betty!

Wincing as he moved, he inched closer towards the edge of the ceiling. "It's been-been a complete honor to talk to you guys, seriously, if I could brag to my friends about this I would, buuuuuttttt, I really need to go."

"Lad, hold on a moment." Cap said. "Thank you for your help. I'm not sure what would have happened if you didn't stop by."

Peter smiled. He couldn't help it. It felt amazing to get praise from someone that you admired for so long. "I...No problem. Anytime you need an annoying side-kick to bug you, Cap, you know where to find me."

Captain America chuckled. "I'll take that into consideration, son."

The teenager laughed, before jumping off the roof and swinging off.

In all honesty, he knew that that didn't really mean much. 'I'll take that into consideration' was just an adult's way of making a kid feel more included. Either way, even if the words were empty, it felt like a lot to Peter.

"Betty!"

The teenager saw her from a distance.

She looked absolutely terrified. At the sound of Peter's voice though, she immediately relaxed. She turned towards him, a look of pure relief on her face.

"Peter!" She exclaimed. "Where have you been? You know, your aunt would have killed me if I lost you!"

"S-sorry, all the excitement made me pass out." Peter admitted, straightening his fake glasses. "Are you okay?"

"You passed out?!" Betty exclaimed.

"Yeah, but I'm fine." Peter shrugged.

Betty gapped at the teenager like he was completely insane, before pulling out her cell phone. "I'm calling your aunt."

Peter's smile faded. "No, wait!"

"She told me to call you if this sort of thing happens-"

"Betty! I'm fine! Really!"

"You passed out, Peter!"

"I'm fine! Really!" Peter repeated. He held out his hands in surrender. "Look, I'll go straight home, I'll eat a decent meal, and I won't go straight to work with you! Please, just don't call Aunt May!"

Peter gave her the puppy eyes.

Betty immediately gave in. "You'll call me as soon as you get home?"

Peter swore on his mother's grave. Betty rolled her eyes at his dramatics before hauling a cab for him.

"Call me when you get to the office." Peter said before he stepped into the cab. "Are you sure you're okay going back by yourself?"

Betty rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'll be fine. Worry about yourself for once, Pete."

They went their separate ways.

It wasn't until he was within a quarter of a mile towards his apartment when it finally hit him:

He sobbed like a baby in front of Captain America!

Cringing like he never cringed before, Peter covered his face with his hands and groaned.

It was a few days after the whole 'Help Captain America Save A Bunch of People in an Underground Tunnel' situation happened.

Peter was still a bit sore after that experience. He had a bit of trouble explaining to his aunt and friends what happened to get him into that state (he settled with tripping down the stairs ...again). He even took a few days off being Spider-Man. That mini vacation didn't last long, though, before Peter started going out again.

He grunted and ignored the pain that his healing factor didn't get to quite yet, and continued swinging around the city like his limbs weren't screaming.

Since it was out in the daylight, crime was scarce. Besides a few people trying to break into people's cars and homes, there wasn't really much to do.

Peter was about to just go home and finish up some homework, when a familiar figure waved him down.

The teenager winced at the sight of Captain America. The image of him crying like a baby flickered through his mind, and god, he probably looked so lame. But he'd been spotted, and if Cap needed him for something, and he just shrugged him off, he'd be breaking his promise, and Parkers don't break promises.

So, Spider-Man turned towards the superhero. He landed gracefully, and straightened up without wincing. "Hey, Cap! How's it going?"

"Spider-Man." Captain America greeted. "How are you feeling?"

"Great!" The teenager lied through his teeth. "So, what do you need? More snake monsters to fight? Another alien attack? Oh! Some kind of sea monster lurking about?"

Cap chuckled. "No, just thought we could chat."

Spider-Man frowned. Okay...he wasn't expecting that.

"Cool! Sure! Yeah, we can chat." His eyes darted to a newspaper in the superhero's hand. "Oh! Wait ...ugh! The Daily Bugle?"

Captain stiffened. He hesitated for a moment before handing it over to Spidey. He frowned at it for a moment, before unfolding it.

If Peter had been taking a drink of something, he would have sprayed it all over the people down below.

"'Captain America Saves New York From Spider-Man and the Serpine Society'?! Are you kidding me?"

Cap patted his shoulder in sympathy. "The people you saved know the truth. I know the truth. And the truth always comes out."

Peter huffed. God, they even used one of the pictures he took! Which was good, cause more money to pay bills, but at the same time, the disrespect of it all!

"Yeah, sure." The teenager straightened up. "What matters is what I do, right?"

"Right." Cap agreed. He smiled.

God, he reminded Peter so much of his uncle.

"Cool. What I'm gonna do is go find J. Jonah Jameson, and web his mouth shut."

Cap chuckled. "I'm okay with that."

So, Peter took off.

And really, was a day not a perfect day when you suddenly launch yourself at your boss's window, startle him, than give him the finger when he looks at you?

Cause to Peter, that seemed like a pretty perfect day, indeed.

**********Sneak peeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkk****************

Peter sighed. '_Great, another bust! I should just go home-'_

His eyes darted to something.

Spider-Man grinned to himself and turned around.

He landed silently on a rooftop, as he watched two men muttering to each other.

"_-I'm just saying, Marco! The Avengers are out of it tonight! We have free reign over the city!"_

Under his mask, Peter's grin grew.

Flint Marco huffed. "_The Avengers? You think I'm worried about the Avengers?"_

"_What? What are you afra-" _The unrecognizable voice laugh. "_Wait, don't tell me-Spider-Man? Is that who you're afraid of?"_

"_Me? Afraid of that brat?" _Marco growled. "_I ain't afraid of him! I'd wring his scrawny neck if I could!"_

"'_If'?" _The other voice mocked. "_Just do it, man. I heard that Spider-Man ain't nothing but a little brat, anyways. What could a little kid do to us?"_

Marco shook his head. "_You don't understand, Gargon. The kid's one of those freaks! A-"_

Spider-Man gasped. The crooks jumped and spun around.

"Flint!" The webhead cried out dramatically. "How could you say that? After all that we've been through!"

Marco blanched.

The new guy, Gargon, was very tall and very muscular. He examined Spider-Man's upside-down form, and smirked.

"God, the boys' weren't kidding." The man sneered. "You're nothing but a little kid playing dress up!"

Spider-Man snorted.

Gargon pulled out a knife, and advanced towards Peter.

"Oh no! Not the knife!" Spidey exclaimed as he webbed Gargon's hand to the wall. "Anything but the knife!"

Gargon's shocked expression was something that Peter would treasure for the rest of his life.

"What is this?!" He shouted.

Marco back away. "I told you! He's one of them mutants!"

"Hey!" Spider-Man let go his web and landed in front of Marco. "I prefer the term 'superhuman'! Who do you think you are, assuming my species like that!"

Marco looked like he was seconds from running away.

Gargon seemed to have realized that as well, because he shouted, "Flint! Don't you dare!"

But Flint Marco didn't have time to make a choice. A circular, metal disk beat him to it, and clumped him right on his chest.

Marco cried out in pain before being thrown to the ground. Spider-Man webbed him in that spot before he had the chance to recover.

Peter grinned as he picked up a familiar looking shield. He glanced at the rooftop that he used to spy on the two thieves, and sure enough, Captain America was there.

"Spider-Man." Cap greeted.

"Captain Rogers." The webhead greeted as he glanced at the shield. "Oh! It's round again!"

Cap chuckled as he jumped to the ground. He landed gracefully for a burly man. "It took a lot for it to get to that point."

**Follow me on tumblr at avigayilrose. **


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